How People Find Health Information online?

Although most appointments scheduled in the healthcare industry today are conducted over the phone, majority of the patients will go online first to search for healthcare information they want before visiting their doctors. Patients will use online sources when looking for health information such as signs and symptoms of a disease, the treatment options for their illnesses, and the best hospitals or healthcare providers. According to a recent study, patients, especially the younger generation are more likely to book their appointments online, base their trust on online reviews, and highly value doctors with self-service appointment management.

The fact is that today’s social and search trends are a clear indication of the growing role of digital connectivity in healthcare. Mobile, social, and search has a profound impact on how health consumers find their doctors online, search for disease symptoms, search and evaluate treatment options and also look for alternative and holistic treatments.

This article will take you through information on patients search for health information online, what they mostly search for and the most accessed online resources.

How user Find Health info Online

Recent studies show that patients search health information online via their smartphone, computers and tablets. Recent survey shows that the overall usage of mobile device to search for health information has exceeded that of traditional computers. 3 out of 4 adults in the United States own a smartphones and use it for location-based searches to collect healthcare information, reviews and recommendations. Major sources of healthcare information include:

      1.      Social Media

Studies show that majority of social media mentions across all organizations are neutral and only 5 percent are negative. About 23 percent of patients use social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to search for health information such as health experiences from friends. Survey results show that:

      ·         56 percent of patients aged 45 to 64 trust health information from social media.

      ·         90 percent of those aged 18 to 24 years trust information from social media.

      2.      Websites/Blogs

Studies show that Google processes over 1 billion search requests every day which is 3 times that of the U.S population. Out of those searches, about 47 percent of them are health-related searches. About 81 percent of people click on a sponsored link when searching for healthcare information.

What do patients search for?

A research conducted recently looked at several factors such as preferences for patient online search and where they go to for health guidance and found that patient spend more time online searching for health information on desired sites. According to the survey, patients may go online at various points in their medical life. The study found that:

      ·         62 percent of patients research a previous treatment as prescribed by their doctors to see whether it is the best.

      ·         60 percent do research before the appointment so as to prepare questions they may ask their doctors. Some may even research for prescriptions and go ahead asking for brand prescriptions from their physicians.

      ·         50 percent research for either holistic or alternative treatments for their conditions. 

According to the study, the first thing patients would search for if they feel ill is the symptoms. About 32 respondents said that they would search for signs and symptoms to help diagnose their conditions before going for treatment. 29 percent of the respondents in the survey said that they search for treatment options for their conditions or illnesses.

For those who would search for treatment options, 68 percent respondents said that they would decide on the best treatment based on their search ratings or reviews. More than 50 percent of the respondents said that the treatment options they choose after online researches happen to be the best cure for their conditions or diseases.

Most Accessed Online Resource

Whether a patient is online or in the doctor’s office, trusted relationships as well as accessible information matters a lot. When patients were asked how much they would trust a certain online source based on medication information, they said they either trust completely or a good amount of the information. Here are the results of the survey:

      ·         They trust doctors information – 95 percent

      ·         Pharmacist information – 85 percent

      ·         An article from websites such  AARP, Wikipedia or WebMD – 60 percent

      ·         A peer recommendation either via message board, You Tube or Facebook – 24 percent

·         Recommendation from a friend family member or contact – 56 percent 

WebMD

In terms of the most visited websites, WebMD was ranked number 1. More than 53 percent of the respondents of a survey said that they trust online information from WebMD and they access it most compared to other websites. As far as the patients said they prefer WebMD for healthcare and medical information, the responses included:

      ·         27 percent said that it was the website that was ranked in the first page and populated during an online search.

      ·         56 percent of the respondents said that the website was easy to use.

      ·         39 percent respondents said that they prefer the site because of its quality of information and trustworthy.

Government Agencies/websites

The second most visited websites for healthcare or medical information are government websites or agencies such as Center of Diseases and Control (CDC), National Institute of Health (NIH), Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 29 percent of the respondents of the survey said that they visit government websites since they are easy to use while 52 percent of the said they visit the websites because of their quality of information and their trustworthy.

Advocacy group websites are among the most trusted websites but the most underutilized. Studies show about 59 percent people trust advocacy groups but only 16 percent of them visit the sites. There is a growing population of healthcare or medical blogs, and patients are also visiting them to look for information. About 45 percent of patients who read healthcare or medical-related blogs say that they do so because the blogs are easy to use while 39 percent say that they use them because they contain information of they are interested in.